5 Cyberbullying
Research by the University of London Goldsmiths college (cited at http://old.digizen.org/ cyberbullying/ fullguidance/ [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ) found that 22% of young people aged 11–18 reported being the target of cyberbullying.
This type of abuse is particularly distressing for young people because it can be constant, and may involve a wide range of other people. Furthermore they may not know who has sent a message, who else has seen it, or how to respond.
It’s really important that as a teacher you know how to help students who report having been the target of cyberbullying and that your school has updated its anti-bullying policy to include a reference to cyberbullying.
Take the time to read Government guidance to schools on how to prevent and respond to incidents of cyberbullying in schools.
See also a very powerful film which shows the consequences of cyberbullying on young people at http://www.digizen.org/ cyberbullying/ film.aspx.
Remember too that teachers can be victims of cyberbullying and again there is important advice produced by the Government on how teachers can protect themselves from cyberbullying. See Cyberbullying: Supporting school staff,
Reflection
From reviewing these resources do you feel equipped to be able to support a KS4 pupil if they told you that they were being cyberbullied?
What role should the school play if cyberbullying was between two pupils in the same school?
Would you involve the student’s parents?
The Childnet film ends with the police coming to the school. What legal issues arise in cyberbullying?
Does your school have a local community police officer?
Having read the advice about teachers not ‘friending’ pupils on social networking sites such as Facebook have you reviewed your friends and privacy settings if you have a Facebook account?
The book Google bomb gives a very comprehensive review of the range of online harassment, cyberbullying, privacy invasion, and Googlebombs (the practice of manipulating the ranking of web pages). It’s important to prepare KS4 students for some of these wider cyberbullying issues such as misrepresentation and reputation abuse online.
4 Strangers online